A Liminal Press: Situating News App Designers within a Field of Networked News Production

Forthcoming in Digital Journalism, doi: 10.1080/21670811.2014.922322

17 Pages Posted: 13 Jun 2014

See all articles by Mike Ananny

Mike Ananny

Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, University of Southern California

Kate Crawford

AI Now Institute; Microsoft Research

Date Written: June 11, 2014

Abstract

In this project we use interview data from the US and Europe to map field dynamics within an emerging techno-journalistic space of news app design. We describe this space in terms of institutional theory and field-level studies of news production and report on a series of interviews we conducted with senior news app designers and lead programmers. Part of a larger empirical study on mobile news app design, we focus here on analyzing how designers understand their work in relation to journalism as a profession and process, and how they see themselves as like or unlike others in their field. We conclude with reflections on how these designers are helping to constitute the organizational field of news app design by creating and sustaining boundary infrastructures that constitute an emerging “liminal press”.

Keywords: Institutions; algorithms; news apps; networked press; technology design

Suggested Citation

Ananny, Mike and Crawford, Kate, A Liminal Press: Situating News App Designers within a Field of Networked News Production (June 11, 2014). Forthcoming in Digital Journalism, doi: 10.1080/21670811.2014.922322, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2448736

Mike Ananny

Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, University of Southern California ( email )

2250 Alcazar Street
Los Angeles, CA 90089
United States

Kate Crawford (Contact Author)

AI Now Institute ( email )

60 5th Ave
8th floor
New York, NY New York 10011
United States

Microsoft Research ( email )

641 Avenue of the Americas
641 Avenue of the Americas, level 7
New York, NY NY 10011
United States

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